A while back I mentioned I’d received 10 Rules Of Writing by Elmore Leonard (Weidenfeld & Nicolson-H/B-£7.99). Finally got round to reading it over the weekend, and, gulp, I reckon I’ve broken most of them in my writing career, and so have a lot of other authors. Now, Leonard seemed like an amiable enough fellow the one time I met him, but Buddy, what is all this about?

I once said to my nearest and dearest, if I ever decide to write a Blog – shoot me.

Luckily there’s no gun available, so here I am.

The reason I’m doing it is simple. Last year I fell foul of reader’s block, and took a long holiday from my regular(ish) column in The Independent On Sunday. I’d been reviewing crime for fifteen years, and I was bored stiff. But around last Christmas I started reading crime novels again, and I went to Katy Guest at the IOS and she asked me to submit some reviews, which I did, and had my first one published a couple of weeks ago, and maybe I’ll get a column again. Who knows?